


Take Me Now But Know the Truth

by InterstellarBlue (nagi_schwarz), nagi_schwarz



Series: Prompt Fills 2020 [1]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-19 01:09:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22369501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/InterstellarBlue, https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the 80's book prompt: "Hawaii Five-0, Steve McGarrett/Danny Williams, ex-Rangers on a cattle drive (Lonesome Dove, 1985)."Steve decides they should go on a cattle drive.
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Series: Prompt Fills 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610299
Comments: 12
Kudos: 38
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	Take Me Now But Know the Truth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brumeier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/gifts).



> Apologetically unbeta'd and written when I was tired.

Danny wasn’t sure what had possessed him to agree to going on a summer-long cattle drive with Steve. Sure, they’d both been Texas Rangers, but Danny had originally cut his teeth in law enforcement in the big city. Steve was originally from Hawaii, and Danny wasn’t sure that either of them were qualified for this venture, but Steve had volunteered them for it.

As they were walking away from the ranch boss’s office, Danny grabbed Steve’s arm and hissed, “Are you insane? I’m from Jersey. You’re from Hawaii. The two of us being in charge of five hundred head of cattle is guaranteed to result in lost and dead cattle.”

“There are cattle ranches and cowboys in Hawaii,” Steve said. “I’ve done cattle drives before.”

“Oh. I thought it was, you know, pineapple and beaches and babes.” Danny shrugged, discomfited by the notion that he didn’t know his partner as well as he thought. Come to think of it, though, Steve did sit his horse really well, was a natural at it.

So Danny went along with Steve’s insane plan. They packed rucksacks full of tinned beans and meat, hard tack, and a couple changes of clothes.

“Do we need sleeping bags or something?” Danny asked.

Steve shook his head.

The only other thing Steve brought with him was a guitar. It was old and battered in a soft case, but he strapped it to his horse, and off they set, to graze five hundred head of cattle across hundreds of acres of land, with only their solar-charged walkie-talkies as lifelines, water canteens, and a couple of cow dogs named Ivy and Dingo.

“Ivy’s a people name,” Danny said, two hours into their first ride. “I feel like I’m saying absurd things to a human every time I give her a command.”

Only neither dog needed much in the way of yelling. Hand signals and whistles here and there made sure they stayed on task, but the two dogs came alert and  _ alive _ when it was time for the two of them to get to work. They just  _ knew. _

“It’s in their blood,” Steve said.

Danny wondered how that kind of thing could be in a creature’s blood.

“Talking endlessly and pointlessly is in your blood,” Steve said, a couple hours later. “I’ve met your mom and siblings.”

Danny glared at him.

As it turned out, there were little lean-tos along the way where they could take shelter for the night if the weather was inclement, but otherwise they would sleep under the stars, using the horse blankets and saddles for bedding. Ivy slept close to the fire as it burned low after they had a simple tinned meal. Dingo decided that first night he liked Danny best and stayed curled close to him.

“So...how do we stay sane?” Danny asked. “No TV, no books, no music. Should I have brought a harmonica?”

And then he remembered Steve’s guitar.

They’d been partners for how long and Danny had never known he played the guitar.

Steve unzipped the case, drew the guitar out, checked the tuning. Slouched against his saddle and backlit by the firelight, he looked like one of those cowboy silhouette cutouts that always made Danny do a double-take when he was doing a foot chase through a neighborhood.

“Do you miss it? Being a Ranger.” Danny missed the purpose of it all sometimes, but he didn’t miss the politics, which had gotten thorny enough that they’d both quit.

Danny had yelled after the thousandth time politics tied their hands, ended in criminals going unpunished.

Steve had just stomped for the door in silence.

Steve strummed a familiar riff. Then he began to sing.

_ Mama, take this badge off of me _

_ I can’t use it anymore _

Danny joined in.

_ It’s gettin’ dark, too dark to see _

_ I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door _

They sang the chorus together, watching the flames flicker and slowly fade.

They’d both brought firearms with them, because it was their job to protect the cattle, and that might mean putting a bullet between a wild predator’s eyes.

But they both sang on.

_ Mama, put my guns in the ground _

_ I can’t shoot them anymore _

_ That long black cloud is comin’ down _

_ I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door _

The song was sobering, somehow. Made Danny sleepy. Tomorrow would be another early day. Danny fell asleep to Steve carefully picking out a lulling arpeggio. He’d ask for something else tomorrow.

The next night, Steve played the song again, gazing into the flames of the evening fire, Ivy resting at his feet.

Dingo had wedged himself up right beside Danny as soon as Danny sat down on his bedroll for the night, gazing hopefully at a can of baked beans and bacon, and he stayed there through Steve’s serenade.

Steve was laconic on a good day. These days he was - silent. Sure, he spoke when Danny spoke to him, but he was somewhere else most of the time. When he was directing the dogs or steering his horse, he was  _ present, _ but as they rode along behind then grazing cattle, he was gone.

The music seemed to bring him back down to earth, which was ironic, because Danny would lay on his back and get lost in the stars.

When the song was finished, though, Steve said, “Any requests?”

“Bon Jovi, if you know any,” Danny said.

Steve started to play another familiar riff.

Danny huffed. “Blaze of Glory? Really? I mean, it’s got a great Western feel, and we are former Texas Rangers on a cattle drive, but aren’t you just being cliche now? Only we were kind of the opposite of Young Guns, weren’t we?”

Steve shrugged and kept on playing.

And then he played Wanted Dead or Alive, and Livin’ On a Prayer, and Danny fell asleep to another familiar song that he couldn’t put a name to before he slipped into dreams.

After that, it became some kind of wild game, for Danny to pick a random band every night and see whether Steve knew any of their songs on the guitar. The answer was inevitably yes. 

“Is this all we do on cattle drives? Stare at the stars and sing along to your guitar? What if we break a string?”

“Yes, yes, and I have spares,” Steve said. “Now, the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Got a particular favorite?”

“Californication,” Danny said, because he liked the riff. He was getting used to Dingo’s constant presence once cowherding had finished for the day, the warm furry presence at his side all night, keeping him warm, the comforting whuffle of doggy breath on his hip.

Steve nodded and began to play.

Danny hadn’t expected the days to start to feel routine. They rose with the sun, they made sure the cattle had time to feed and water, then they rounded them up and herded them on to the next pasture. There was a specific route to take, so they’d end up back at the ranch at the end of the season, so none of the pastures were over-grazed. There were lean-tos dotted along then gentle green slopes, usually little more than a slab of wood and a couple of two-by-fours as support. Danny felt like the back of his neck was constantly sunburned, and day in, day out all he could smell was manure and cow and horses. At night everything smelled of woodsmoke, canned beans, and dog breath.

Even though Danny and Steve didn’t talk much, as spread out as they were to keep the cattle in check, Danny couldn’t remember the last time he’d spent so much time with just one person. He hadn’t even spent this much time with Rachel on their honeymoon.

At night there was open air, stars, and music.

After a week or so, Danny asked for Bon Jovi again. 

Steve played through the classics - Bad Medicine, You Give Love a Bad Name, Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night, plus all the ones he’d played the first time. Usually Danny fell asleep long before then, but they sang along together, smiling and laughing.

When Danny finally felt his eyelids start to droop, Steve switched to a slow song, one with rolling arpeggios. Sometimes it took Danny a hot second to recognize a song on acoustic guitar when the popular riff was played on an electric, but he caught on fast.

Not this time.

Maybe he was tired.

Maybe it wasn’t a popular song.

Maybe…

Steve didn’t start singing, but he did start picking out a melody, and Danny recognized it.

He opened one eye. “Really?”

And so Steve started to sing,

_ I wanna lay you down in a bed of roses _

_ For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails _

Danny laughed. “Let me guess - I’m the blond who gave you nightmares?”

Steve said, “Then you’d still be in my bed.”

That made Danny pause. He pushed himself up. “Steven?”

“Daniel?”

“What are you trying to say to me?”

Steve started singing the chorus again.

Danny crossed their little camp space and knelt beside Steve, looked him in the eye. “Are you saying you -” He couldn’t finish the sentence, because he couldn’t believe it. He’d dreamed about it a thousand times, hoped in vain, but it was impossible. He’d always known it.

Steve said, “Sorry I don’t have any roses.”

Danny said, “New song.”

Steve’s hands stilled. He swallowed hard. “Oh?”

Danny breathed,  _ Lay your hands on me, _ and pulled Steve in for a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Everything I know about cattle drives I learned from a friend in grad school who used to take his guitar on summer cattle drives with his brother.
> 
> Title from Blaze of Glory by Bon Jovi.


End file.
